I’ve wanted to ask this forever: How can Line 6 in good conscience continue to promote and sell the Pocket Pod without providing any software updates or any updated drivers since 2009? I spent good money on what is essentially an abandoned product. I can’t find anywhere on Line 6’s product page where it mentions software or drivers. Line 6 Monkey? Outdated and useless.
I get that firmware updates may not be forthcoming but, I should at least be able to get software and driver updates that will run on modern computers with modern operating systems.
Okay, there's a bit to unpack here and I had to ask some Line 6ers who've been here longer than I have, as Pocket POD predates my tenure here. If you don't mind, I'll parse it out and apologies for any mishandling of your post.
Why no firmware updates?
There was one update in 2009, two years after Pocket POD was released in August of 2007; it fixed two minor bugs. Unless your Pocket POD was bought over 14 years ago and you never updated it, or you found a dusty pre-2009 production unit sitting on some pawn shop's shelf, it's most likely your Pocket POD is already running the latest firmware. If not, we're more than happy to update your Pocket POD here.
Why no editor updates?
The original Vyzex editor was made by some guy in Europe who made editors for a wide variety of products from Akai, Alesis, Line 6, M-Audio, and others. Since then, the mantle has been taken over by a couple of web-based editors, but they don't work on Safari. AFAIK, Line 6 has never made its own editor for Pocket POD.
Why no updated drivers?
Pocket POD has never required drivers. It doesn't have an audio interface built in and its MIDI interface (for editor communication and potential updates) is class-compliant on both Macs and PCs.
Why is Line 6 still selling Pocket POD? Because after 16 years, it still sells surprisingly well. And from our viewpoint, its functionality is the same as it was back in 2007 without a Mac or PC, but if someone really wants to use a third-party editor (again, we've never developed one in-house), excellent solutions exist. If Pocket POD were an audio interface or in any way required a Mac or PC for full functionality, we probably would've discontinued it long ago.
If the request is that we divert software engineering resources away from current projects to develop a brand new standalone or browser-based editor for Pocket POD—specifically for Safari users who don't want to download Chrome—I'm afraid that's a big ask.
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